Web development is a thriving industry with a whole host of design opportunities. Fundamentally, web designers are programmers with additional creative abilities. These professionals create all of the websites that we know and love and continuously improve the interfaces that we interact with for hours every day. These programmers ensure the internet stays helpful, interactive, and ultimately useful—which is one of the many reasons why we encourage people to enter this field. Web design has a relatively low barrier-to-entry relative to its average salary. Few other non-college careers provide such a high income from so few years of work experience. In this article, we’ll cover the average national salary of a few kinds of web designers, and how to become one without a degree in computer science.
Types of Web Developers
Web design is a subcategory of web development. The primary kinds of web developers include front end (client-side), backend (server-side) and full stack. Server-side developers handle the behind-the-scenes aspects of website building, while client-side developers create attractive and functional features that we all use. Full stack developers combine the skills of both front and back end programmers, giving them a great overall web coding background. In this article, we’ll focus on the various types of front end (client-side) development, as these programmers have the majority of designing-related responsibilities.
Front End (Client-Side) Designer Salary
As a front end designer, you’ll be tasked with creating the visual and functional aspects of a website. These programmers use coding languages such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Front end developers use their design skills on all kinds of projects, and these coders can work as freelancers for remote positions if they choose. While it’s difficult to determine the wages of freelancers, the salary of front end web designers is amazingly high. The national average annual salary for client-side developers is $100,208 but varies significantly based on location and company.
UX/UI Designer Salary
User experience and user interface (UX/UI) designers are specially trained to improve the usability of a website. While these two careers are usually lumped together, they aren’t the same thing. User interface developers do most of the design work, but they build upon the foundation of code built by the user experience designer. To put it simply, the user interface is how a website looks and feels, and user experience is how it works and behaves. These two professionals often work closely together within a company, and their salaries are similar. In the United States, user interface and user experience designers earn an average of $90,697 annually, with top earners bringing home over $100,000 per year.
How to Become a Web Designer
Unlike other high-paying careers, web designers don’t always need a college degree to enter the workforce. While college is usually a plus, the tech industry is generally more concerned with skill than educational status. If you can do the work well, you’re a valuable asset to the tech industry. To combat the increasing labor shortage, the tech industry supported the development of numerous coding bootcamps. These short-term education programs train students to become developers in months, not years—and help thousands of people increase their salaries and career prospects. If you’re interested in learning more about coding bootcamps, check out this article here.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
